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Sunday, 28 December 2008

Ron Moore talked to Clayton Neuman at AMCTV.com about the Galactica midseason finale, the final 10 episodes, and use of faith and religion in the series. He also briefly mentioned Caprica:

Q: Next you've got Caprica. Are you surprised it took so long for SciFi to greenlight it?

A: I'd literally given up. You hear that a lot from studios and networks: "Well it's not really dead, we're not saying no." But they're saying no. It's never coming back, and I just thought we were in that spot. It's a gamble: We're making a character drama in a science fiction universe that has nothing to do with action/adventure each week. Nobody's been able to pull that one off, and it would be great to do that. It would be another way to validate the genre as supporting interesting and good programming.

SCI FI ordered 20 episodes of Caprica in November. Production will start in mid-2009 and the series is expected to premiere early in 2010.

Battlestar Galactica returns on January 16 at 10 on the SCI FI Channel.

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

MediaBlvd Magazine has an interview with Avan Jogia, who plays Ben Stark in the Caprica pilot. He talks about the show among other things:

One of the roles that we really want to get into with you is Caprica. We have a lot of fans of Battlestar Galactica here and we have a couple of the actors official sites and we’ve interviewed most of the cast at one point or another. I know we can’t talk about too many spoilers and such, but what can you tell us about it?

Yeah, plot line stuff we can’t get into. But filming Caprica was amazing. I play Ben Stark. He’s a member of a monotheistic cult, which is made up of fanatic religious zealots basically. He is a very dark character because of his intense love for his religion His willingness to do whatever he needs to do to get his ideas across is kind of really dark and hard to play. It was an amazing cast and crew. Jeffrey Reiner is the director, he did Friday Night Lights, and he’s such a visionary. I really can’t wait to see if it goes to series or what’s happening with it. I really want to figure out what happens with the characters, because it sets up a really big cliffhanger. I really want to know what happens.

Is the word still out about whether or not it’s going to go to series? We’ve heard rumors that it might.

There’s no official word yet. There’s been some rumors that it would air on Sky TV in November, but I think it’s most likely that it will air after BSG. There’s no real date. I really hope it goes to series, because I think BSG is such a great show. I watch it a lot and was kind of a nerd for awhile. I think it challenges a lot of interesting ideas like religion and politics and our social interaction. It’s a great show and the most exciting sci fi show I’ve ever watched. I’m not huge into sci fi TV, and that’s something that got me into it.

If you’ve been a fan of the show for a few years, how does it feel to find out that you are going to be right there involved with the origin of the Cylons?

It’s kind of awesome. I started auditioning for the show, and hadn’t really watched it as intensely. Then I got the three series and watched them back to back to back with chips and pop. I really got into it, and it’s so interesting. I’m in the beginning of the Cylon’s. Everything in BSG is based around this prequel.

This is the official Caprica press release with info already covered in previous posts:

SCI FI Channel has greenlit production on the new original series Caprica, ordering 20 hours of the drama including the two-hour pilot, it was announced today by Dave Howe, President, SCI FI. Caprica is the prequel to SCI FI’s hit original series Battlestar Galactica and stars Eric Stoltz (Milk, Chicago Hope), Esai Morales (Jericho, NYPD Blue), Paula Malcomson (Deadwood, ER) and Golden Globe nominee Polly Walker (Cane, Rome).

Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families the Graystones and the Adamas as they grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics. Caprica will deliver all of the passion, intrigue, political backbiting and family conflict in television’s first science fiction family saga. Production on the series is slated to begin summer ‘09 in Vancouver for a 2010 premiere. Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights) directed the pilot.

“Caprica will build on Battlestar Galactica’s acclaimed legacy of gripping drama and extraordinary characters,” says Dave Howe in making the announcement. “It’s the beginning of a brand new epic saga that will appeal to both new viewers, totally unfamiliar with the Battlestar franchise, as well as existing loyal and passionate Battlestar fans.”

“Ron, David and Remi have created an amazing series with thought-provoking storytelling that deals with a world very similar to our own. It’s definitely not as dark as Battlestar, but like that show, this series has smart, dimensional characters who grapple with issues of love, sex and politics from a world in transition,” says Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.

As the series begins, a startling development is about to occur - the creation of the first cybernetic life-form node or “Cylon” the ability to marry artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies. Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) father of future Battlestar commander William Adama (Sina Najafi) a renowned civil liberties lawyer, becomes an opponent of the experiments undertaken by the Graystones (Eric Stoltz), owners of a large computer corporation that is spearheading the development of these living robots: the Cylons.

Caprica is produced by Universal Cable Productions and executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Remi Aubuchon (24). It is co-written by Aubuchon and Moore and directed by Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights).

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

I wrote the first post-pilot episode a few months ago, so I am fairly familiar with the story and I'll just say -- if you enjoyed the challenging and intriguing world of Battlestar Galactica, you'll love Caprica. That said, it's as different from Battlestar's "feel" as you can imagine, dealing with emotional and science-fiction conceits in an entirely different and very adult way...

In a surprise twist, SCI FI has decided that Caprica will be a series after all and not just a TV movie that may or may not see the light of day.

From Variety:

Having already produced a two-hour backdoor pilot, Sci Fi is aiming for an early 2010 bow for the series, with production starting around the middle of next year, probably in Vancouver, where both "Galactica" and the spinoff's pilot were shot.

" 'Battlestar Galactica' was absolutely our flagship show. It put us on the map and helped transform the perception of the network," said Sci Fi prexy Dave Howe, noting that the cabler hopes to draw a broader audience to a series it sees as more compelling family drama than "space opera."

"We want people to come to this who have never heard of 'Battlestar Galactica,' " he added. "I think, because ('Galactica's') backdrop was space and spaceships, there was a barrier to entry for some viewers. 'Caprica' has none of that. It's an intense family drama set on an Earthlike planet, in the near future, speaking to a lot of the ethical dilemmas that we as a human race are going to have to face very shortly."

"Galactica" has had its fourth and final season in the can for several months, with the final 10 episodes culminating their run March 20. A two-hour movie adaptation, "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan," is slated for early summer.

Mark Stern, original programming topper for Sci Fi and Universal Cable Prods., says waiting until 2010 to bow the prequel will give the producers time to regroup the core of "Galactica's" writing staff, which has largely scattered to other shows.

"One of the other things we have going for is, this is one of the first shows we've done in conjunction with our new cable studio," Stern added. "There will be a lot of coordination between the studio and the network, not just on production, but how the series is launched, as well."